“Chinese Attitudes Toward Missile Defense Technology and Capabilities,” with Michael Chase, in Missile Defense: The Fourth Wave and Beyond, Catherine M. Kelleher and Peter J. Dombrowski, eds. (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2015, forthcoming)China has long viewed U.S. development and deployment of missile defense systems as the prime threat to strategic nuclear stability, and thus, to Chinese national security. Specifically, Chinese analysts are concerned that U.S. missile defenses could diminish the credibility of China’s growing, but still relatively modest, nuclear deterrent force by threatening to eliminate missiles that would survive a hypothetical disarming first strike against China. From the Chinese point of view, this would be tremendously destabilizing, as the prospect of avoiding Chinese nuclear retaliation through a combination of offensive means and missile defense might embolden the United States to coerce China with nuclear threats in a serious crisis or a conventional conflict between the two countries. As some Chinese scholars argue, Beijing’s concern is that the sense of security afforded by a powerful shield would make it much easier for the United States to attempt to brandish its nuclear sword. Yet even as Beijing continues to object to U.S. missile defense programs on the ground that they are strategically destabilizing, China is developing its own midcourse missile defense intercept technology. The purpose of this chapter is to explore Chinese views on missile defense technology and capabilities and to explain this apparent contradiction between Beijing’s longstanding opposition to such systems and its interest in developing similar capabilities of its own. The paper has three sections. The first explores Chinese concerns about U.S. missile defense programs as a threat to the credibility of China’s nuclear deterrent. The second evaluates China’s own missile defense program. The third and final section assesses the implications of these developments for Chinese and broader Asian security.